Ethernet technology has been pervasive in the Local Area Networks for many years. Enhancements to the technology to include Operation Administration and Maintenance (OAM) features are now allowing Ethernet to be used in carrier networks. With its advances, Carrier Ethernet technology can be used to build a transport infrastructure to replace a SONET/SDH.
However, even though Carrier Ethernet includes the OAM features required for a carrier to use the technology in the large networks, Ethernet's inherent asynchronous packet-oriented behavior can create bursts of traffic and congestion in the network which can lead to unpredictable non-deterministic performance. Such unpredictable behavior is a deterrent to using the technology in a transport network to replace a synchronous deterministic protocol like SONET, even if it provides significant efficiency improvement. One way to add some determinism to the Carrier Ethernet network is to perform port rate limiting (reducing the rate of an entire port to limit the rate of the bursts) which is a waste of precious bandwidth. Another option is to severely under-book the bandwidth in order to make sure the bursts do not create congestion. Both solutions are highly bandwidth inefficient. There is a need to add functionality to the Carrier Ethernet technology to achieve deterministic performance while not losing the efficiency improvements. There is also a need to adjust the amount of bandwidth as needed by the services to further optimize the resource usage.